W. L. GORE & ASSOCIATES has expanded its operations to over 30 countries globally, including Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, Central America, North America, and South America. It is renowned for producing advanced technology products for the electronics, industrial, fabrics, and medical industries. The company employs 9,500 individuals worldwide and encounters unique challenges due to cultural diversity within and outside the organization.
Expanding globally presents numerous challenges for companies, including the effective coordination of virtual teams. Communication breakdowns and miscommunication can arise when transferring information, data, and greetings without proper communication methods. The process is further complicated by language barriers, cultural differences, and norms across different continents. Furthermore, there is an increasing demand to foster strong relationships across geographical boundaries.
The person in charge of the same company needs strong relationships across boundaries in order to establish a significant and standardized brand worldwide. When details and expectations are not effectively communicated, confusion and conflict can arise. Teammates or colleagues may compete with each other when issues arise in the company, leading to a loss of focus on the company’s objective. Another challenge is maintaining the culture and values of W. L.
GORE & ASSOCIATE, being located in many countries and continents with diverse cultures, norms, languages, foods, dress, and more, find it challenging to maintain standardized company culture and norms throughout the year. They are easily influenced and altered by companies from different continents. To overcome the challenges of globalization and remain competitive in the global market, W. L. GORE & ASSOCIATE must have people to coordinate among its departments.
The coordination should be in horizontal link of communication by having coordinators, liaisons, and managers to transmit messages from one department to another so that everything can be brought together. The intermediary should understand what needs to be delivered and to whom the message needs to reach in order to facilitate and ensure the efficiency of the company’s system and processes. Additionally, W. L. GORE & ASSOCIATE can reduce costs by outsourcing to low-cost countries such as Brazil, China, and India, thereby lowering production costs through reduced supply expenses.
The supply cost includes various factors such as resources, employees, and location. Lowering the supply cost leads to a decrease in production cost and overall product cost. Consequently, the company experiences increased competition and the ability to temporarily dominate the market. Currently, many companies are aggressively attempting to enter markets in countries that offer low-cost workforces. Seeking advice from experts on cultural and global issues is also an effective way to simplify the process of signing contracts and agreements when purchasing company products.
Both researchers and local people play a crucial role in helping the company understand the preferences of the new market. This information is important for the company to minimize risk when expanding into new markets. Offering cultural and language training to employees can enhance their ability to appreciate and comprehend diverse cultures. In cases where virtual teams require extensive coordination, a combination of traditional hierarchical structure and flexible relationships can facilitate smoother progress for the company.
Furthermore, enhancing the sense of unity among employees is also important. It is crucial for the company to focus on horizontal coordination and transfer of information across different regions in order to meet the increasing demands. By doing so, any potential misunderstandings between departments or even continents can be minimized, considering the flexible structure that the company currently possesses. Additionally, both local and global communication teams or departments should exist to foster team bonding through the utilization of an intranet team page.
The page provides employees with the opportunity to chat and make friends, which helps bridge communication gaps and fosters a sense of community. To maintain W. L. GORE & ASSOCIATES’ unique culture and values, it is important to establish a team culture that inspires associates and promotes an egalitarian environment. Regularly reminding employees of the company’s values and encouraging them to incorporate them into their work can achieve this goal. Sharing stories about how employees practice these values can also serve as practical examples for others. Informal gatherings like lunch meetups or weekly dinners help foster unity among employees and strengthen the company’s culture. Integrating the company’s values into daily work, decision-making, and business practices further contributes to creating significant cultural norms at Gore. Examples of this include being punctual for work or appointments, using standardized name cards with the company’s trademark, and maintaining alignment in formal letter writing. By focusing on these aspects, the company effectively projects its image without causing harm to others.
Additionally, these values can also be applied to partners of Gore, like suppliers and customers, to ensure that they remember the company. The rapid advancements in technology and information have bridged the gaps between people worldwide. Consequently, the challenge of globalization arises as more companies are willing to expand their presence globally, including in the business network sector. The desire to generate revenue and achieve high profits is also what motivated W. L. GORE & ASSOCIATES to enter the global market and embrace the competition of globalization.
The main cause for the challenge faced by virtual teams is the need for effective communication. In a team setting, it is crucial to have clear and efficient communication, particularly when working with others globally. Teams must ensure that information is exchanged smoothly, minimize gaps in communication, and avoid breakdowns in communication. These challenges also contribute to the growing need for building strong relationships across geographical boundaries. Many companies have to regularly meet with individuals responsible for each continent.
Maintaining a good relationship and standardization are both sources of the above problem. A strong relationship among team members can be built and conflict can be avoided through this. Standardization across geographical boundaries is vital for portraying the image of Gore and being recognized and remembered by customers. This can also help prevent competition among team members for customers. Cultural differences also contribute to the difficulties in maintaining the culture and values of the company.
The culture of a team or country is crucial for the success of a company, whether it operates domestically or internationally. A strong understanding of cultural differences among team members can lead to increased profits and reduced conflicts. The coordination between departments is advantageous in addressing communication gaps, breakdowns, and information overflow within the team.
Team members have the ability to communicate with whoever they need to coordinate with until departmental decisions are made. However, this option has the disadvantage of necessitating a significant amount of manpower when additional individuals are required, which can result in confusion and uncertainty regarding employee or manager roles. Conversely, outsourcing to a low-cost country can decrease costs by minimizing supply and production expenses, thereby providing the company with a competitive edge.
The company has the potential to compete and possibly dominate the market, but there are drawbacks to this approach. One disadvantage is that employees in the home country may lose their jobs. Moreover, outsourcing to another country could lead to higher pollution levels. Additionally, most of the profit made from this option would be used for worker wages in the host country. Alternatively, the company could explore acquiring or partnering with a company in a different country. This would help minimize risks associated with entering a new market and also cut costs related to Research and Development or specific organizational requirements within the industry.
The downside of the alternative is that there is a possibility for the pattern, trade, or knowledge to leak out and be utilized by partners in that specific country. This puts the company at risk within the global market. Conversely, seeking guidance from culture and globalization experts presents a beneficial approach to gain a better understanding of the market. This helps decrease the likelihood of product rejection. However, this option comes with high costs and does not guarantee employee application of acquired knowledge. Offering training programs to employees for cultural and language studies has its advantages and disadvantages when dealing with minor issues. The combination of a hierarchical structure alongside flexible relationships facilitates a less rigid organization, enabling easier control, information transfer, communication boundaries, and coordination.
Implementing a flatter organizational structure can create confusion and ambiguity for employees as they may not know who to report to or follow when multiple people are involved in decision-making. To alleviate this issue, horizontal coordination can be preferable to ensure smooth flow of information across different levels. Employees tend to feel more at ease and connected when they have leaders who have been with them since they joined the company, fostering a greater sense of affection and belonging among team members.
The organization’s leaders will face challenges in managing various disadvantages and role confusion. Nevertheless, the intranet is essential for fostering team bonding and minimizing miscommunication among members. It promotes a sense of belongingness and collaboration in resolving issues. However, this comes at the expense of losing transparency at the upper level of the company.
The lack of coordinators or responsible individuals to update and upgrade systems could result in employees not fully utilizing the page. To address the challenge of maintaining the company’s culture and values, several alternatives exist. One option is to establish an inspirational and egalitarian culture that standardizes the company’s values and enhances their professional role and reputation in the global market.
However, this also results in the drawback of being too inflexible externally when adhering to a strict and standardized procedure. Sharing anecdotes among employees reveals how prior or senior employees exemplify the Gore values among themselves. New employees can learn from these stories and become motivated to work harder and form stronger bonds with their team. However, the higher-level management cannot regulate whether the senior employees share negative or positive experiences, leading to potential detrimental influences and damage control.
By integrating company values into daily work and decision-making processes, employees can quickly learn and adapt to the company’s culture. However, some new or recently hired employees may experience stress when they struggle to fit in and when other team members avoid working with them.
Expanding Gore’s values to partners, including suppliers and customers, is crucial. It requires effort and understanding to build strong relationships with these stakeholders. However, aligning diverse cultures may present challenges that require time for mutual comprehension. Hence, it is important for the company to ensure proper training and equipping of employees with essential knowledge before engaging globally with customers and suppliers who have their own distinct cultures, values, and norms.
To handle globalization, one strategy is to rationalize the outsourcing of resources and workers to countries with lower costs like China, India, and Brazil. This allows companies to decrease production expenses and flourish in a competitive market.
When dealing with coordination difficulties in virtual teams, it is recommended to merge a traditional hierarchical structure with flexible relationships within the organization. This merging helps eliminate bureaucratic hurdles and streamline lengthy processes.
Meanwhile, to meet the growing need for building strong relationships across geographical boundaries, we recommend that the company focus on horizontal coordination. This approach allows for easy communication within teams, eliminating any breakdown of information or lost communication. Incorporating the company’s values into daily work, decision-making, and business practices will greatly assist in maintaining Gore’s cultural and ethical standards. Some examples include using a standardized letterhead for external communication, being punctual for appointments, and remaining active in the organization.
